Our Studio...What Do You Think?

We have been purchasing equipment now for 2 years because we want to be able to do a "project"!

I play drums and sing and my wife sings. We know plenty of good to excellent musicians and singers in our area. These are people who are performing, recording and have recorded. Our genre is Gospel Music and our taste in gospel runs to the top 10 artists.

As I have mentioned, we started years ago with the idea of buying and learning as we go. So, now at this point we have just about everything in place. We want opinions and recommendations about our equipment purchases and our capabilities with them.

Below, I have listed the equipment that we have and our questions are:

How far can we go with what we have?
What recommendations do you have for equipment upgrades?
What will the recommendations/upgrade provide for us?

We appreciate any and all information as it will only make us better and our future projects sound good!

Before we can give precise suggestions, what in your setup is not working for you? what are you not able to achieve? There are always upgrade paths that are possible no matter what gear you have in the studio. But if what you've got is making good sounding records...no need for more money spent.

I hear from local "Geet-tar Center" salespeople, that I am good for a demo maybe a little more, but given the heart of our system PTLE 001, can you produce a good album project is our QUEST(ion)!

Click to expand...

sure you can. I had a 001 for years and wish I still did (small and lightweight- and only 1 rack space) but was forced into a 002r setup because I sold my g4 tower and bought a powerbook with plans for a g5 (both incompatible with 001). However, I did purchase an external DA/Ad converter because the 001 is a bit stuffy sounding (not great conversion).

If you want the biggest "increase" in sound quality for your setup- I would suggest putting as much $$$ as you can afford into a great 2 channel pre (with DI's or maybe even two seperate DI's). I'm assuming you have a similar workflow to myself as I noticed your motif etc.- I do most of my work DI and use two avalon u5's for 90% of my direct recording. Cost 900 for the pair and are very nice sounding units. They also sound great on active basses, which I'm sure you gospel producers would really like (those fat active 6 strings that I always see with gospel bands will really punch through one of these).

Either way, something like the Focusrite ISA428 might really do the trick for you- it's got 4 channels of pre and you could add the AD card for excellent AD conversion. THis would bypass the 001's converters which are less than stellar. Do a search for this unit- it's one of the most popular on this board. I know several R&B and gospel producers and the ISA is in all their racks and is used quite often. BTW the DI on the ISA is amazing on bass.